week 14 melding into 15

A busy week to say the least. A seven day stretch of work with pockets of time dedicated to fun with friends and Filipino family. My days are long and exhausting. My mind is ready to shut down by the time evening rolls around. The constant language translation and stress of the city leave me without much energy for additional language study in the evening. I eat dinner, journal, and maybe throw in an episode of Mad Men before bed. At least my days are full, without which I would sit and ponder my purpose here. I like that I’ve been thrown into projects and activities with my organization. I am learning quickly and trying to help relieve some of the work load for the incredibly busy social workers.

The busy week kicked off with a much anticipated visit from my Dumaguete host family. They were in Cebu to pick up my host parents from the airport, as they had been in America for much of my stay in Dumaguete. I was greeted with the biggest hugs from the girls and they fought for my attention the entire evening. We met at a mall so we enjoyed our few hours together just walking around and even went on some bumper cars. They treated me to dinner and even offered to drive me to my home far from the mall. I miss living with them and they rejuvenated my morale after last week. Then the work week began…

I helped facilitate activities at two trainings last week. The first (on Thanksgiving) was a teambuilding day for the stakeholders in Euphrasia. Barangay workers, LGU representatives, teachers, students, parents, and Euphasia beneficiaries were brought together to build solidarity and commitment to working with Euphrasia. As a new volunteer, I am supposed to meet all the stakeholders in my community as a courtesy. I hit many birds with one stone at this training, as so many of the individuals I was to meet with over the coming weeks were all in the same place. I only helped facilitate energizers, but it was a good opportunity to assess my facilitation skills and make adjustments for in the future. I participated in the team building activities and listened to the stakeholder’s concerns about their given community during an open forum discussion. Overall, a successful day, especially since one of my fellow PCV friends was there to share the activities with me.

The second training involved more preparation. It was a training for teachers and peer tutors from an elementary and a high school in my barangay about starting a new tutoring program. I prepared a one hour session about the tutorial learning environment and learning styles, then presented creative ideas for non-formal learning through games, role plays, art, etc. I accessed most of the material from the wealth of information the Peace Corps provides to us through books, an online PCV share point, and other PCVs. I spoke in slow, loud English so the teachers and (some) students could understand. I felt as though my session was a little dry at some parts. Live and learn. Three other days were spent at the office, mostly working on my laptop on preparations for the session and research. They get to be a long days so I usually walk around the city before work and during my lunch break.

About twenty volunteers ventured to Cebu City over the weekend to celebrate our Thanksgiving. Due to the tutorial training I had, I was unable to spend Friday night and Saturday day in the city with the others. I was supposed to stay Sunday in the city as well but abruptly found out my camping trip with work was switched from Monday to Sunday. I was crushed when I found this out on Saturday morning. My long holiday weekend had not only been cut down once, but would now leave me with less than 20 hours to spend with my friends. I was upset, but knew I needed to go on the camping trip for relationship building with my co-workers and the youth. I met up with everyone Saturday night after the training for a pizza and Mexican “Thanksgiving” dinner at a restaurant. We all even went around the table saying what we were each thankful for. A long night ensued, even with a stop at a British-style pub. I was so happy to see my friends. It felt like an eternity since we had seen one another. We all needed the time together to process our first two weeks at site. So, I made the best of the time we had.

Sunday afternoon, I joined seven co-staff and eight youth facilitators on a camping trip to Osmena Peak, about a three hour drive away from the city. The purpose was to reward the youth facilitators for their hard work at the Regional Youth Conference two weeks ago. We were dropped at a small town at the base and ascended the peak into the night. It was a tough hike with steep inclines over uneven rocks and mud. My headlamp and Keens definitely came in handy. Two hours later we made it to the top and set up camp. We set up the tents and ate dinner before the night grew colder and windier. The night included singing, dancing, games, and lots of fun. After settling into our tents, the winds grew worse. Collapsing our tent once and keeping us awake and shivering all night. The second day we hiked down the mountain then went to the beach and a natural spring for swimming. I was able to spend a lot of time getting to know the youth better. They were shy with their English but I thought they spoke great. With sore legs and tired eyes, we boarded the van for another long drive back to the city.

A busy and diverse week to say the least. One day for rest and regrouping then back to work. The first of a month, a busy time for our office. Sponsor children and their parents coming in to receive their checks and fill out paperwork. Children busy writing letters to their sponsors adorned with a Christmas theme. I fill my time planning for the new tutoring program and researching grant and resource opportunities.